1. Technical Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a display device. More particularly, exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a display device and a method of manufacturing the display device.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, flat panel display devices include a liquid crystal display (“LCD”) device. The LCD includes an LCD panel and a backlight assembly providing lights to the LCD panel. The LCD panel includes an array substrate on which a plurality of thin-film transistors (“TFTs”) is arranged, a color filter substrate on which a color filter is arranged, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the array substrate and the color filter substrate.
As the TFT is manufactured at high temperature, a glass substrate having heat resistance and low thermal expansion coefficient is used as a base substrate of the LCD panel. In addition, the glass substrate is inexpensive. However, the glass substrate is easy to break and is difficult to produce thinly; accordingly, the use of a glass substrate is becoming an obstacle to producing a thin and lightweight. LCD panel
In order to solve the obstacle, a plastic LCD device has been recently developed in which a glass substrate used as a base substrate of the LCD device is substituted with a plastic substrate. As the plastic LCD device employs a plastic film having a thickness of about 0.6 mm less than that of a glass substrate employed in a conventional LCD device, the plastic LCD device is lightweight and is more flexible so that the plastic LCD device is not easily broken. In addition, manufacturing costs of the plastic LCD device may be reduced in comparison with a conventional LCD device.
In a method of manufacturing the plastic LCD device, the plastic film is laminated on a carrier substrate, a TFT process is completed, and then the plastic film is stripped from the carrier substrate.
The method of manufacturing the plastic LCD device may use a plastic film having superior heat resistance, mechanical strength and chemical stability. However, there is currently no plastic film with satisfactory characteristics for TFT, color filter, liquid crystals and module processes. One problem is that a thicker plastic film, which does not have a stable volume when subjected to environment variations such as heat, moisture, chemical impact, etc., is used as a base substrate of the LCD device. Thus, misalignment between layers, bending of the carrier substrate by thermal expansion coefficient, and various defects may be generated due to volume variations of the plastic film.